A classic bootleg recording by Fatboy Slim which samples the Rolling Stones’ (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction has finally been released, as the band give it their blessing after 25 years.
Satisfaction Skank was a familiar track on turn-of-the-century dancefloors, as Fatboy Slim mashed up his own 1999 hit The Rockafeller Skank with the Stones’ 1965 classic, hurling Keith Richards’ iconic guitar riff into the “big beat” sound of the late 90s.
The track was much shared on Napster and other filesharing services, with bootleggers also pressing it to vinyl for use in nightclubs. But the track was never officially released, after numerous attempts to get the sample cleared were denied.
“I got a call from Mick Jagger and he said he’d heard it and he liked the mix,” Fatboy Slim, AKA Norman Cook, told the BBC. “But his management was just like, ‘No, not even negotiable’. We’ve had a pretty flat ‘no’ for 20 years. I think we asked four times, and I wouldn’t have dared to ask them again.”
But the Stones eventually relented, allowing Cook to build the track anew from the original parts of Satisfaction: the stems for the track were delivered to him in an armoured van. It will be released with a music video directed by Tom Furse of goth band the Horrors, who used AI to enhance archive photos of the Stones.
The Stones’ decision to approve the sample has echoes of how, in 2019, the band relinquished their rights regarding the Verve’s hit Bitter Sweet Symphony.
The song used four seconds of an orchestral version of the Stones song The Last Time for its central string motif, which the Stones’ publishing company disputed the use of, and after an out of court settlement the song’s royalties passed to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards as part of a shared songwriting credit.
But after what Ashcroft called “a kind and magnanimous gesture from Mick and Keith”, he was granted all future royalties to the song.
The Rolling Stones have maintained a relatively low profile following the release of their comeback album Hackney Diamonds in 2023 and a tour in 2024, though guitarist Ronnie Wood said in May that the band were still planning another album.
Cook, 62, remains highly active, having just hosted his All Back to Minehead weekend festival featuring sets from artists including actor Simon Pegg, and planning three large outdoor concerts on Brighton beach in July 2026. He has also recently published a book, It Ain’t Over ’Til the Fatboy Sings.
